Curriculum of Contradictions: Paul Hanna and the "Proposed Curriculum Procedures for Japanese Relocation Centers," 1942–1946

• In Event: Architects of History: Rethinking the Power of Individuals in Education

Abstract

In 1942, Stanford University professor Paul Hanna offered the War Relocation Authority (WRA) the services of a summer graduate course in curriculum development to write a curriculum proposal for the schools of Japanese-American “relocation centers.” Hanna’s students developed an 88-page document titled “Proposed Curriculum Procedures for Japanese Relocation Centers,” where they propose a “community school” model for the incarcerated children. The WRA adopted the proposal for its ten camps. This paper discusses the contradictions present in the curriculum proposal, such as the emphasis on democratic education in an antidemocratic space. It also places this curriculum in conversation with other historical literature which explores the paradoxes of progressive education.

Author

• Abigail J. Miller, Stanford University
  Presenting Author